National Writing Day
National Writing Day falls on 21st June this year and is a great opportunity to explore the power of creative writing for pleasure and self-expression.
Unlike many other calendar events, the group of literacy organisations and publishers championing National Writing Day have no specific theme, so anything goes which inspires children to write.
In this blog, we look at some of the Busy Things’ activities which could help you celebrate the day, whether you’re teaching at reception level, key stage 1 or key stage 2.
1. Early Years
Writing is always easier when you’re inspired by the subject matter. So, link any writing activity to the latest kids’ movie showing at the cinema, school visitor or playground trend and you’ll undoubtedly be onto a winner!
We’ve a whole selection of writing projects in Nursery, Reception and Upper Reception which may help you here. There’s our ‘Wanted: dead or alive’ poster for film villains, our ‘People who help us’ writing template and our ‘Lost toy’ poster.
2. Key Stage 1
Our book extracts are great for key stage 1 pupils as they offer the structure and scaffolding that many of these younger pupils need.
Using our extract from ‘Foxy and Egg’ as a stimulus, perhaps you could ask your pupils to develop the story further.
Alternatively, the children could focus more on character development. Using the ‘New neighbours’ extract, they could first consider what the animals they’ve met are like, and then think about how the rats might be in reality. Will they be what the other animals expect or completely different?
2. Key Stage 2
At key stage 2, the children can really fly with their writing and use their imaginations really creatively. Perhaps they could revisit the Traditional tales that they loved when they were younger and give them a fresh twist. Perhaps having the final little pig in The Three Little Pigs in an eco-house that the wolf couldn’t see or having an old wolf who couldn’t huff or puff but gently wheezed!
Alternatively, if writing isn’t really their ‘thing’, why not encourage them to write a comic strip instead, so that it’s the graphics that tell the story rather than the words.
Our ‘Create a comic strip’ activity is great for this!
The important thing is to gain pleasure from writing on National Writing Day, so the form that the writing takes doesn’t matter. Just have fun and allow your pupils to immerse themselves in their stories!
What next?
We hope these activities have given you some ideas for National Writing Day.
Want to see more activities?
If you’d like to try more of the activities and games we offer for music, why not take a 28-day free trial and explore our platform at your leisure? Just click here.
If you’d like a demonstration along with the trial, where we can help you identify the activities that would benefit you most, simply contact us here.